Gato was not happy about this latest development. He had sent his men out to kill the bridge-builder that was about to wreck his monopoly on the island's commerce, but instead of one dead old man he only got news about a man heading out to recruit supernaturals from one of the Villages. Worst of all, they hadn't actually figured out which Village.
While the Village Hidden in Torments was the closest, it didn't have the best reputation (it's actors of choice were literally called 'Demons'), and the Village Hidden in Revelations and the Village Hidden in Legends might both be better choices. Since that bridge-builder managed to actually give them the slip, it was likely they wouldn't find out until he had actually hired some protection that mere human thugs would be worthless against.
Thus, his own best option was to spring for supernatural aid himself, but where to turn to? Those Villages wouldn't accept a contract to kill the man they just signed a contract to protect, as even the Vampires grew a weird sense of honor when contracts became a factor, so he couldn't bid it out to them, and besides, he didn't want any of them, especially Torment and Revelation, to look into the investments he had made into some of the various Village enterprises…no, it was best to look for a Rogue.
Luckily, the psychosis of Torment's current Tyrant (although, it was odd for them to expect different leadership styles when that was literally their leader's name) meant that Rogue Demons weren't exactly hard to come by, and he had the right underworld connections to make the right calls.
--
Naruto was excited to go on missions. As a Scion, he was legally barred from any profession outside of the Village except for 'Mission-Solving,' an ethical issue he had been subtly trained like all of the Village's children not to question, but that was hardly a restriction as 'Mission' could mean practically anything. Facing dangerous Titanspawn, escorting imperiled princesses, waging wars on behalf of both Village and mortal, or…finding a missing cat.
Or picking up trash. Or aiding with construction work. Or, since Sakura had the Health Purview, filling in shifts at the hospital. Sasuke and Naruto were technically working security on that last one, so it sort of fit with his previous vision of what being a Hero meant, but…
"When in the cold depths of the Underworld are we going to get a real mission? We didn't go through all that training for this crap!"
Kakashi merely responded, "these are important for building relations with the mortals. Besides, this work is just as valuable to the well-being of the Middle World overall as any great act of heroics."
None of them could tell whether he believed it or was just giving them the cliches to annoy them.
Sasuke interjected, with perhaps a little more maturity than Naruto but no more patience, "these are all things mortals can do by themselves, except maybe the hospital work. I won't pretend to have a great concept of how much we cost compared to mortal laborers, but is it really worth it on their end to spring for Scions?"
"Many of our abilities are just as useful, in fact in some cases more useful, for day-to-day life as they are for combat and espionage. We're usually more efficient than mortals doing the same task, at least if you get the right Knacks and Purviews. Besides, here within the Village our existence is a source of pride, and many find it prestigious to get us working for them."
Any retort Sasuke could have come up with was drowned out by Naruto's whining, which was finally stopped by Kakashi informing them that they needed to find a member of the Mortal Council's wife's cat again. Sasuke knew full well that there were Heroes out there capable of talking to cats, and thus were far more qualified to do this specific task that they were somehow required to partake in over, and over, and over, and over again. Still, if Naruto's endless whining hadn't worn anyone down yet he doubted anything, even reasonable arguments, would and went along with it.
--
Hiruzen looked at Tazuna the Bridge-Builder's quest with dismay. It was clear that the man was hiding something from listening to his story for more than ten seconds, and exactly what was going on just required a quick geography and economics check.
His home country was almost entirely controlled by one business magnate, who in turn happened to be one of the world's most powerful mortals. The type who could easily respond to a man he wanted dead hiring Heroes by hiring Dragons, or Kue-Jin, or Demons of higher power.
Tazuna didn't want to (or, more probably, couldn't) pay for a mission that would likely involve fighting other Supernatural Men, so he undersold the threat and hoped what he got would be enough. He presumably went out of his way to come to the Village Hidden in Legends to ensure he wouldn't immediately be caught, as he was closer to the Village Hidden in Torments. Or, could Gato have already hired Demons from there? No, then they would have attacked him on the way here.
Of course, that brought up another reason to turn this whole thing down; whoever he had sent would be encroaching on Torments' jurisdiction. Now, the Villages didn't operate under any official rule about not working in one another's territory, but there was an understanding about where they shouldn't be if they don't want to be 'mistaken for foreign infiltrators' by someone who was really just pissed that they didn't get hired.
The current state of the Demons and their Village only made this a worse threat. Today's Tyrant's only admirable trait was his impressive ability to survive attempted overthrows, something with which he had much practice. Getting anywhere near that current mess would make him raise the danger level, and thus the fee, alone. So, why was he not refusing the request?
Suspicious, he flipped a coin and thought that if it was heads he'd accept as is. It landed on heads. He then rolled two dice and thought that he would accept if they landed on snake-eyes. They landed on snake-eyes.
Yep, Fate was invested in this. So, did that mean he had to go through with it, or was it another on the long list of reasons he should avoid it like the plague? Being familiar with both philosophies on Fate, he merely sighed. 'Don't start a war, please, and be careful,' he thought as, against all better judgment, he assigned Band 7 to the Mission.
--
Naruto simultaneously understood why the cat kept running away and felt no pity, just schadenfreude, as the cat was crushed in its owner's embrace, gasping in misery from its oblivious owner's actions. They had shown up to speak with the Great Kunitsokami himself about the completion of this Mission, and Naruto had something to say to the old man once their client was gone and the payment doled out.
"Okay, old man, when are we getting some real Missions?"
The Great Kunitsokami looked exhausted as he put his fingers against his forehead. "I didn't want to do this yet, but if you insist, a client has come in recently seeking protection from bandits and common criminals while he builds a bridge. There should only be mortal enemies, and not particularly dangerous ones at that, but of course one should always be prepared for the unexpected when outside the Village walls."
His tone was rather insistent, like he really wanted them to remember this. Sakura and Sasuke just thought it was because it was an important warning, but Kakashi picked up that there was something their leader wasn't telling them. That aroused suspicion. Naruto was too excited by the idea of finally going on one of the adventures he had long been dreaming of to notice. No one pushed the Great Kunitsokami on the matter, and so he merely invited their client in.
Naruto, when fantasizing about the people he would save, had always imagined beautiful women and scrawny men that would admire his superior strength and athleticism. He had never really thought about the overweight, middle-aged man whose breath smelled of alcohol currently standing before him.
Apparently, Naruto himself didn't match up with the man's expectations of a Hero either, as he merely glanced at the group and scoffed.
"I paid good money and this is what I get? A bunch of children?"
"You paid for a Band of Lesser Heroes. Be grateful that you get the Upper Demigod as a package deal."
The man looked over Kakashi, and grunted. "I guess that works. I'll leave at your command, but I would like to get back as soon as possible. This bridge is important to my country."
Kakashi was mildly distracted by keeping his hands over Naruto's mouth and shoulders to restrain him from antagonizing the client, but he got what he needed. "We'll leave at sunrise tomorrow."
The man nodded in understanding, then left to prepare. After some cajoling, the Lesser Heroes of Band 7 went to do the same. When Kakashi and Hiruzen were alone in the latter's office, Hiruzen merely said, "I decided to trust Fate against my better judgment," raising a hand before he had to listen to Kakashi's rant on the subject, "I trust your judgment on the field. You know their capabilities, and you know yours, and you'll have to figure out whether to stay or go when the real danger rears its head."
The Great Kunitsokami was being frustratingly vague. Supposedly it came with being a God, something about their psychology, or perhaps greater understanding of the world if one were religiously inclined. "Very well, Great Vanir," Kakashi responded, and went on his merry way.
--
All of Naruto's excitement didn't stop him from being 5 minutes late, which everyone glared at him for. "Naruto, a Hero values punctuality. One should never be late," Kakashi reprimanded him, more to enjoy the aghast looks at his hypocrisy than to teach his student a lesson. He'd learn the importance early, or he never would. That was ultimately out of Kakashi's hands.
What was in his hands was the safety of his Band, which made him look twice as they left the Village's boundaries. The children were also looking, and maybe self-consciously enough that it was occasionally out of caution, but mostly because this was the first time they had spent a significant amount of time outside the Village's walls. It was new, it was exciting, it was…almost entirely trees.
The further they went from the Village, the more and more they only saw arboreal life, and the less and less they became interested in this new, exciting world. Kakashi's reaction mixed pity with amusement.
"Is there anything else out here?" Naruto grumbled.
Kakashi sighed. "Naruto, we're barely an hour away from the Village. The Land of Heroes looks like the Land of Heroes."
"Well, sure, but how big is the rest of the world?"
It seemed like a stupid question, but it wasn't entirely unreasonable that someone with such a small area of reference wouldn't have a good grasp on scale. "Well, if you paid the slightest attention in the Academy, then you know that our Village is one of several. The Great God-on-Earth, or whichever of his titles you choose, rules the Village Hidden in Legends in the Land of Heroes. The Tyrant rules the Village Hidden in Torments and the Flockmaster rules the Village Hidden in Revelations, both in the Land of Faith, which actually shares a maritime border with Tazuna's country on the other side from us," he spared a glance at the Bridge-Builder, who said nothing but was clearly scoffing at Naruto's ignorance.
"The Marshall rules over the Village Hidden in Tall-Tales in the Weird West, the Broodkeeper the Village Hidden in Fire in the Land of Gold, the Prince the Village Hidden in Masks in the Land of Blood, the Hem-Netjer-Tepi the Village Hidden in Hekau in the Land of Resurrections, the Ancestor the Village Hidden in Enlightenment in the Land of Jade, and a few minor ones. Each of those is, at best, a city. Entire countries like the Land of Heroes can have dozens, or even hundreds, of cities."
Naruto seemed amazed when considering the scale of a world he hadn't actually observed, but then he seemed to hyper-focus on a specific detail. "Hekau? Isn't that what the Pesedjet children use?"
"The Village Hidden in Hekau is where Mummies are housed to be bought and used to do, well, mostly the same things we do. The word means something like 'Magic,' in the general sense, not in the way the Magic Purview means it, or probably more accurately 'Words of Power.'
"They do have a connection with the Egyptian Gods, or at least claim to, as Mummy legend holds that they were first created to be the children Osiris couldn't have, but there is nothing outside of their records that suggests that. Clan Pesedjet denies it, and Osiris himself only shows up to adopt Scions and has refused to give direct answers on the question, and that's without getting into the theories about whether they're talking about a different Osiris, which gets into whether the Gods are really Gods and not just really monsters that took the image of Gods, and then…well, children, just take my advice, never get involved in the various cosmological debates between the Villages, it will only give you a headache."
Naruto already had a headache. "The Gods aren't really Gods?" He asked to himself, seeming to be trying (and failing) to process Kakashi's words rather than actually ask a question.
"It's the desperate ravings of other Villages jealous of our relationship with the Gods, ignore it," Sasuke asserted. That seemed to satisfy Naruto, more because it made sense then because he agreed with it.
"Anyway, that connection is what makes the Village Hidden in Hekau and the Village Hidden in Legends better allies than most, at least some of the time. You know, Naruto, if you want to be Great Kunitsokami one day, you'll have to negotiate with these people. You really should learn this."
Tazuna snorted once more. "This kid's going to the Great Kunitsokami one day? I thought that was the most powerful person in your Village? Have you really sunk so low?"
Before Kakashi could respond by explaining that it was a long-term goal of the boy's and not an upcoming decision, Naruto interjected, "I am far more awesome than any of these third-rate leaders, and I'm going to show them all, including you! One day, I'll lead the Village and I'll be respected. You'll all see!"
Tazuna merely shrugged. "Maybe I will. I won't see it today."
Kakashi once more found himself with one hand covering Naruto's mouth and the other physically restraining the boy.
As they walked down the road, Sakura thought about what Kakashi had been saying with the Villages earlier. Unlike Naruto, she had already known all that, but when worded as Kakashi had she started to question some things. "Guide Kakashi?"
"Hmm?"
"What determines what goes in a Village? How are they made, and why are we confined to them?"
Kakashi laughed. "You're not supposed to ask those questions, you're just supposed to fight for the Village and be honored."
Looking back at Sakura's confused and slightly horrified face, he continued. "You know what history they teach at the Academy, right? About the World-That-Was, it's unknown Doom, and then the Age of Myth?"
"I know all those terms, but, what happened during the Age of Myth? All the stories are vague."
"You're right, all of them are vague, and I mean all of them, even the advanced ones, written by people who should have been there. More than vague, they're contradictory, describing several worlds that couldn't possibly have existed at the same time. Funnily enough, the Demons have a possible explanation, as they claim that reality worked differently at that time, and that the end of the Age of Myth came with the shattering of reality and subsequent reformation into the consistent, more-or-less, world we see today. But that gets into cosmological debates, and I warned you about that.
"Anyway, something ended it, and that something ultimately led to mortals ruling the world. Either they discovered a secret power only known now to the mortal governments, they learned the True Names of the Gods and could thus command them, or, as is sometimes theorized, the supernatural, when free, was mostly cruel and tyrannical, and the few who took pity on the mortals rose and overthrew their brethren to put the mortals in charge.
"Regardless of how it happened, the mortals got to decide how things in the Middle World would go from then on. They separated the supernatural into the somewhat arbitrary categories of 'Supernatural Men,' 'Enhanced Humans,' and 'Monsters,' the last of which we normally call 'Titanspawn,' and declared that the former must be confined to places where they could serve humanity rather than rule over it. The last was initially confined to the wilderness or hunted to extermination, but they've let up to calling a Village when one causes problems.
"Enhanced Humans don't really have any explicit rules, but the beings who become them don't really have much freedom anyway. The Berserkers that Aesir children like me can create are among them, and you know how they develop odd loyalties to their Scion. Most of them are like that, the ghouls who drink Vampire blood, the Thralls who are empowered by deals with Demons, the Touched who gain power from their relationships with Angels, the Amkhat who eat Mummy flesh, although those ones are legally recognized as Monsters in the Land of Resurrections, etc. "
"But, to get back on track, all of us in the 'Supernatural Men' swore an oath to stay loyal to the Village System. It was somehow compelled on the Scions, Demons, Angels, Cowboys, Dragons, Vampires, Mummies, Kue-Jin, and even the Fae and Imbued, and it's long been understood that defying it will bring our doom. How is a secret, if it's even known at all. The very existence of Rogues means that it definitely doesn't apply to every individual, but at this point the idea has been so ingrained into the world that the system keeps itself in place even without the threat. In our specific case, the fact that the Gods don't oppose it has probably done more to keep us in line than that vague threat. Besides, there's a lot of money to be made."
His nonchalant dismissal of the topic didn't sit right with Sakura. "But the people confined to these Villages, like us…had no choice."
Kakashi decided, against his better judgment, to continue. "Well, you had a choice. When Athena adopted you, you could have rejected her Visit, refused to take your Birthright, and the Ichor inside of you would have eventually died and you would have become a mortal. I have no idea whether you were told that was an option at the time, as most Gods don't say it, and it certainly wouldn't have sounded like a worthwhile option to an impressionable child hopped up on dreams of grandeur and heroism, but there was technically a choice, just as every Mummy or Kue-Jin could choose to reject their new life and gone on with their death, or every Angel could have avoided that sincere proclamation of doing good that awakened their powers, or every Demon could have avoided reaching the point that their soul was vulnerable to possession. Many would argue that only the Dragons and most if the Deviants could say they really didn't have a choice. It was never a clear choice, with all the pros and cons laid out for you to peruse, and most don't know they've actually made one at the time, but yes, there was in fact a choice made."
Naruto looked at the ground. "I didn't have a choice." While Sakura and Sasuke thought that Naruto misunderstood what Kakashi was saying, the latter realized that, no, becoming the Gatekeeper for Mikaboshi was not a choice that the infant Naruto made even under the liberal definitions the Village System sometimes tried to justify itself with.
"No, I guess you didn't," he said out loud without thinking, which caused Sasuke and Sakura to look at him in surprise. Well, that's Naruto's story to tell, he thought in response to the suspicions that would now inevitably grow.
--
After Kakashi's impromptu history lesson, it was about an hour of walking on a clear day until they ran into some fog.
"Oh man, this could get annoying," Naruto said out loud. His fellow Heroes and Tazuna agreed, as the fog looked thick, but Kakashi was spending his time thinking about the fact the current weather conditions were hardly right to create such a fog. While he had no real familiarity with the Sky Purview, he had done a reasonable amount of study on the scientific principles behind its mundane factor, and he was pretty sure that fog formed when humid air cooled down.
Cold air was capable of holding less gaseous water than hot air, so when air cooled down it sometimes had more water than it was capable of holding and thus formed clouds. Or something like that.
Regardless, the last few days been annoyingly dry and there had been nothing even resembling a cool down in the area, which made the sudden presence of fog suspicious. A random Titanspawn attack? Something targeting apparently weak Scions on their first outing from the Village?
Or, was it related to that feeling he had the whole time that there was more to this whole ordeal than had been advertised? Glancing warily at Tazuna, Kakashi decided to take an unnecessary risk and let his students walk on ahead with their charge without warning them. It did mildly sadden him that they hadn't noticed anything wrong themselves.
Oh well, learning the hard way might do them some good. You know, if they didn't die, but he was planning to intervene before things got that bad.
--
The fog was thick, obscuring their vision. Not enough that Sasuke felt the need to waste Ichor on his Penetrating Glare, but enough that the details of the woods beside them were blurred. None realized until after the fact that they were obscured enough to provide the perfect cover for an ambush. They would kick themselves for that later. For now, they simply grumbled in annoyance until the arrows struck.
None of them saw where they came from until after they grazed Naruto and Sakura's torsos, their strange barbs on the sides slicing into them. Then, in what was clearly the direction of their source, a shout in some form of gibberish resulted in a torrent of water coming out of seemingly nowhere. Not just water, but putrid, filthy water, the kind of polluted mess that made people fear swimming in it.
Naruto and Sakura could both feel it sinking into their open wounds. So disturbed were they by this series of events that they failed to notice the second set of arrows flying straight at Tazuna, but Sasuke proved more responsive than the other two and pushed the intended target out of the way in the knick of time, though not quickly enough to avoid the arrows grazing him.
Clutching at his wound, Sasuke quickly assessed that the arrows shouldn't have done that. There seemed to be some form of enchantment on them that tried to compensate for missing their target. Great.
--
Naruto, like many young boys, had all sorts of fantasies about battle. Those fantasies rarely accounted for how bad it would smell, or how awful the polluted water would feel as it seeped into his wounds doing who-knows-what. Of course, he didn't know that polluted water was a viable option for weaponry, for him or the enemy, when he held those fantasies, so maybe this wasn't the time to judge a boy's naivety.
What could be judged, however, was the realization that he could die here. It was one of those things that always seems obvious when thinking about it in the comfort of one's own home, but has a completely different feel when it actually becomes real. He wasn't invincible. Those monsters he dreamed of heroically slaying could slay him right back. It hit him strongly, and he…couldn't move.
Four men burst from the trees, screeching something in a language he didn't understand and swinging swords in their direction, mostly in Tazuna's, but he could only stare in terror as one swung at him…only to be blocked by Sasuke's naginata.
"What's the matter, coward?" His Bandmate found the time to say as he fought the attacker off. That condescending, superior attitude had always pissed him off, and now it was doing so even more because, it, was, well, justified.
When it actually mattered, Sasuke had acted rightly when Naruto screwed up, and that made him angry. Angry enough that it broke him out his spell.
"Darkness Purview: Shadow Bodies," he shouted, and the black beings came into existence, surrounding Tazuna and getting an assailant that was just about to strike the client from behind. The attacker's sword lodged itself into the Shadow Body's structure, ripping through and causing it to waver from existence, but giving another Body time to strike the attacker with an imitation of Naruto's knife. Said assailant was now bleeding, but screamed in frustration as he shouted what barely sounded like "Lore of Storms: Summon Water."
A nearby pond, or what seemed to be one (Naruto couldn't tell through the fog), swelled up, putrified in the same way as the water from earlier, and burst forward in a torrent even stronger than the one from before. A less skilled combatant would have been knocked down; Tazuna actually was.
Instead of facing off against the Shadow Body currently in front of him, the assailant instead chose to attempt to dive past him and head straight for Tazuna. That was when all of them heard "Darkness Purview: Shadow Shroud," then saw the sun vanish. Or became blind.
Either seemed equally likely to all affected parties except Naruto, who had recently taken the time to learn Night Eyes and apply it now. What he saw was Kakashi casually dispatching their enemies as they fumbled about in the dark.
--
Once all of their attackers were dealt with, Kakashi decided to let the Shroud fade on its own. Since it was daylight, it would lose some yards each hour, and then it would no longer be impossible to see once the light he had ripped away from this pocket of the universe returned by itself.
He could immediately dismiss it if he wanted to, and save his poor students who were all stuck fumbling about at this moment, but that sounded less fun. Besides there might still be threats about…and his students probably needed medical attention.
He dispelled the Shroud immediately. Having had quite a few unfortunate encounters with Demons, he could safely say that these hadn't been Demons; they were Thralls, mortals who had been directly empowered by Demons, probably in exchange for service. Which meant that there was, in fact, a Demon somewhere opposing them that they had yet to run into. That was great.
Oh, and they were clearly going after Tazuna specifically, which meant that this was a complication for their mission and not an unfortunate chance encounter, which was greater. Of course, he also knew that every Demonic Evocation had a Pure Form and a Tormented Form, and the version of Summon Water they were using was the Tormented Form (minus the one who used it to create the fog), which was normally beyond a Thrall unless their master happened to be particularly corrupt by Demon standards, which was the best part of all.
His thoughts were interrupted by Sakura's squealing. She was utterly disgusted by the muck that was all over her, especially by that which was seeping into her wounds. She should be; the Tormented Form of Summon Water created all sorts of diseases that normally shouldn't be within the water in question.
Especially with their open wounds, his students were probably about to get horrifically sick, and he started to realize that there might not be much to do about it at the moment. Oh, and Sasuke was staring at Naruto with contempt, while Naruto was glaring back at him defiantly.
"What did you think being a Hero meant? That you'd spend all your days safe and sound cozily getting praise and payment?"
Oh, this can't be good. Going through First-Battle-Shock was unpleasant enough without a rival egging him on and Naruto's already existent attitude issues.
"Okay, let's just take this opportunity to thank whatever Gods or Higher Ideals you consider worthwhile that you made it out alive. Now, while we deal with whatever horrific effects the putrid water they were working with will have on your open wounds, let's reflect on what we can learn from this experience."
Naruto didn't seem to appreciate Kakashi's interruption, still glaring at Sasuke and clearly trying to come up with a retort, when 'horrific effects the putrid water they were working with will have on your open wounds' finally processed, an embarrassing amount of time after Kakashi had actually said it. "Wait, what'll it do?"
"Well, that was a Demonic Evocation, and from what I understand it wasn't just filthy water but water filled with some of the most terrifying diseases known to mortals, and possibly a few that aren't."
While Naruto started to freak out once more, Sakura shouted "Health Purview: Assess Health." She had already been holding back vomit from her current situation, but the results of her assessment apparently were enough to drive her over the edge. Once she was finished adding to the new wonderful coloration of the road beneath them, she had the wherewithal to say, "so, do we have any antibiotics? And I mean the good ones, not the basic ones."
Probably trying to save face from his shutdown earlier, Naruto pulled out a knife and said, "I don't need it, because I'm going to be Great Kunitsokami one day, and I can handle myself, believe it!"
He proceeded to cut into his own wounds, removing the visible slop and pus-like liquid wherever it pooled. Soon, there were no visible signs of the infested water, and he stood proudly, bleeding, seeming to think that he showed the initiative and sacrifice to save himself.
It was among the most idiotic things Kakashi had ever seen. The dangerous substances had already dissolved and diluted into his blood; he literally accomplished nothing that couldn't have been done better by a calm medical examination except cut himself and add exsanguination to the potential causes of death.
Trying to mitigate his criticisms in light of Naruto's current emotional state, he merely said, "that was cool and all, how you removed the poison, but if you lose anymore blood, you'll die."
Naruto returned to freaking out, but he didn't seem to feel like a coward anymore, which was important in its own right, and Sasuke even looked a little impressed. 'I might have to re-educate them on biology', he thought. Sakura, at least, according to her facial expression, clearly recognized that the boy had just accomplished nothing, but also apparently had the wisdom to say nothing. He was thankful for that.
--
Aid for their wounds, especially with Sakura's Health Purview, was easy to administer. What could be done about the toxins and diseases was done, though they could only do so much. Hoping they wouldn't drop from illness, they continued on, a lot more cautiously and with Tazuna now in the center, while Kakashi hoped one of them would ask the appropriate question so he could lead it into questioning their client.
He could, of course, just go straight into it, but he wanted to see them notice something wrong first. It was Sakura who finally asked something tangential to the right question.
"Kakashi, what were you doing for the majority of the fight?"
"Yeah," Sasuke noted, though he seemed reluctant about admitting it, "we could have used you."
"Well, I did want to see what you would do in a real fight, so that was part of it, but also, once I realized that we weren't dealing with normal mortal bandits I needed to see their target."
"What?" All three asked. Tazuna looked uncomfortable, showing Kakashi even more proof that there was something to look into here.
"Well, if they were just going for us, it might have been a preemptive strike by another Village, which would mean we'd have to return to the Village to alert the Great Vanir immediately. If they were attacking randomly, or going for the wealthiest looking of us, they were probably bandits, albeit ones with more power than we were prepared for. That would be an unfortunate but valuable lesson on the inherent unpredictability of traveling outside the Village."
He paused before continuing. "From what I could observe, they were clearly going for Tazuna. Which means that they're relevant to our mission." He glared at the bridge-builder, who was only growing more and more uncomfortable. "Now, think about that attack, and think about the parameters of our mission. Noting that I've already eliminated the inherent unpredictability of traveling outside the Village as a factor, what can you observe?"
"The greatest likely threat was mortal bandits," Sasuke answered.
"You said that they used Demonic Evocations? Did we just fight Demons? That's way outside our expected danger level!" Sakura observed.
Naruto, hearing that, pumped his fist in excitement. "Hell yeah, we fought some Demons and kicked their butts! We're amazing!"
"You didn't do that much, failure," Sasuke responded, but also seemed pleased with himself.
Not sure whether he hated or loved to burst their bubble, Kakashi interjected, "those were Thralls, not Demons."
"Whats?" Naruto was utterly confused.
"Heh, idiot," Sasuke responded, clearly trying to hide the fact that he didn't what they were either. Kakashi wanted to goad him into admitting it, but Sakura took it upon herself to explain.
"Mortals who make deals with Demons, usually involving some sort of servitude on one party's part, can, at the Demon's discretion, gain powers including enhanced physical abilities and," her lecture froze as something horrifying just dawned on her, "the weakest of the Demon's Evocations, and only the weakest."
"Thralls who try to act on their own typically lose that power," Kakashi helpfully continued, "so they were almost certainly acting under a real Demon's orders."
He then turned to their client. "So, Tazuna, you look uncomfortable, and something about that discomfort gives me the impression it's coming from a feeling of 'I expected this to happen and am now awkward about addressing it.' So, tell me what you've done to get the Village Hidden in Torments angry at you so we can decided whether we actually want to continue with this mission or not."
Tazuna sighed. "I've done nothing to the Demons, in fact I first considered hiring them for helping me with this, but I feared that Gato would predict that and send his goons after me before I could reach Torments. By going to Legends, I hoped to throw him off, at least until I had some supernaturals under contract."
"A contract filed under false pretenses can be reconsidered, so don't try to hide behind Contract Law," Kakashi cut off the potential argument before Tazuna even made it. "Gato? I'm vaguely familiar with that name. He is someone of importance in mortal politics, isn't he?"
"He is among the wealthiest businessmen in the world, mostly through his shipping enterprises. When someone wants something to travel between Lands, Gato probably makes money from the process somehow. That's common knowledge for anyone who cares to look. What isn't so well known is that he builds up a lot of that wealth and influence by monopolizing the ports of small, isolated island countries like my own and controlling all trade in and out so that he gets everything for practically nothing and the rest of the islands gets practically nothing.
"Our country is in ruin while he gets fat, and that's what this bridge is about. With it, we can trade with the continent again without his control, and that's why he wants me killed. It took all that the people still willing to fight had to finance the bridge in the first place, so we couldn't afford more security, when it was a few hired thugs to intimidate us we managed to deal with it ourselves. Then he started hiring more, and the possibility of seeking supernatural help before he did came up. Without any real additional funds, I couldn't afford god-kids to fight whatever supernatural assistance he could afford, which was a lot, so I…skimped on that possibility."
Before they could comment on this, he added, "to be fair, I didn't actually know that he would, just was somewhat aware that was a possibility."
Kakashi did not like the idea of letting this villain get away with it, but he also had a team of children who had only been in one non-simulated fight, and that because of this very mission, so he couldn't very well just fully embrace it and go gung-ho like some stupid kid that got all of his ideas of heroism from badly written books. That, apparently, was Naruto's job.
"Well, what are we waiting around for? If this guy is really as bad as all that, then we should go kick his ass! And whatever Demons he's got with him as well!"
The rest stared at him aghast, somewhat in awe of his naive foolishness, but they didn't really disagree. Kakashi, in spite of his better judgment wanted to continue. He would have put it to a vote, since the Heroes were at greater risk, but he realized from both their personalities and facial expressions that was effectively voting to go on with extra steps. "Okay, we'll do it."
--
Sakura considered strategy in way that made Kakashi respect her more and more. "So, if the Thralls used this Demon's weakest Evocation, then that makes he's got the Water Purview and really strong with it…"
"Storms," Kakashi corrected. "Demons have a different list than we do, and they're called 'Lores,' not Purviews, though the difference is some cosmological nonsense that may not even be real, so effectively they're just a different set of Purviews. The Lore of Storms is like if Water and Sky were combined into a single Purview."
That seemed to disturb her.
Are they…stronger than us?"
Kakashi shrugged. "Standard military wisdom holds that they scale differently. The weakest Demons are stronger than the weakest Scions, but the strongest Scions, even ignoring Minor Gods who've ascended, are high above the strongest Demons. From my own experience fighting them, I'd say treating them as equals until proven otherwise is typically a safe bet."
--
"The Thralls have not reported back," Haku noted.
Zabuza tried to hide his disgust, as always; the Nephelim's scent repulsed his Fallen nose, and he knew that there was no way to cover it. They were what they were. He would appreciate if his tool would do him the favor of not telling him information he already knew, but he figured it would make sense to keep track of any other sort of underling and kept the snide remarks to himself.
"I know, I felt the connection of their Faith snap a while ago. Apparently, he got better from Legends than we were expecting, given the pay. Maybe this bridge-builder is richer than we thought, and we signed a contract with the wrong man."
Haku laughed at his joke, even though it really wasn't funny. That was fine with him. "Well, trusting them to handle it themselves was a mistake. We lost four Thralls today, and going out to make new ones without catching the Inquisitors' attention could be an issue." He sighed. Complications upon complications.
"Once the contract with Gato is fulfilled, we'll have a lot more resources to work with. Things will go much smoother."
Both the memories of his mortal life and the half-remembered fragments of the spirit inside of him's former life gave him an unpleasant impression of the concept that things could ever go 'much' smoother, but having money had to be better than not having it. Why else was he ought here schmoozing it up with rich mortals and not trying for a second overthrow of the Tyrant? "We'll see, my tool, we'll see."
--
Terms:
Demon: human body possessed by a Fallen. Can happen at a low point in a person's life, when they've given into their darker impulses, at the moment of their death, or after a voluntary ritual to allow just that
Fallen: spirits that claim to be the former servants of a God, supposedly the God of monotheistic religions, that rebelled against said God
Tyrant: Leader of the Village Hidden in Torments
Village Hidden in Torments: Village where Demons are expected to reside if they wish to exist within mortal law
Thrall: mortal who has made a long-term deal with a Demon, possibly including developing supernatural abilities
Pure Form: intended power of of a Demonic Evocation
Tormented Form: Demonic Evocation altered by a Demon's insanity and corruption, often happens by accident for Demons, calling on it intentionally can increase said insanity and corruption
Inquisitor: internal law enforcement among Demons
Rogue: creature legally confined to a Village that has rejected said Village for any number of reasons
Flockmaster: de facto leader of Angels; technically the Angelos is, but there are specific standards for that position that few Angels in all of history have met
Angel: the child of a human and a Grigori or Fallen, or a descendant of a mortal produced through such a union, also count those exposed to 'Divine' energy and a selection chosen after a wrongful death to come back with abilities similar to those of an Angel, unlock their powers after making a sincere proclamation of doing good
Grigori: spirits with the same claims as the Fallen, except that they remained loyal
Nephilim: Angel of Fallen descent
Village Hidden in Revelation: Village where Angels are expected to live
Terms involving other Villages and other creatures may be reserved for a later date
Techniques:
Darkness Purview: Shadow Shroud-rips the light from an area, making it impossible to see without supernatural means
Lore of Storms: Summon Water-Pure Form: takes an existing source and increases its amount, possibly creating a torrent, or turning it into fog. Tormented Form: the same, but the water in question is polluted with unnatural toxins and diseases